Thorax injuries caused by accidents, cause paradoxical breathing with air ventilation failures and an increase of the CO.sub.2 partial pressure, appearing in four or five days in the traumatic humid lung, causing insufficient breathing and therefore, death; when there are multiple costal fractures with flaccidity on the thorax walls, at the moment of inspiration the affected area sinks, passing the air from this area to other thorax areas, so for this reason there is no ventilation and at the moment of expiration from other unaffected parts of the thorax, the air goes to the multiple fractures underlying areas, so there will always be non-ventilated (saturated CO.sub.2) in the fractures underlying areas; for these reasons it is necessary to pull the sunken part and keep it in its position to form the osseous callus, therefore giving a certain rigidity to the fracture.
Multiple side fractures with loss of the thorax rigidity and consequently paradoxical breathing, have been treated in different ways in the past.
Originally, fractured parts were held with pincers and traction was provided with a pulley with a 6 to 8 Kg, counterweight in an orthopedic bed. Later, the fragments were fixed with pericostal or intramedular wire.
This type of apparatus is obviously very unconfortable and the patient must remain in orthopedic bed practically immovable.
Another type of device used to control these fractures is the endotracheal probe to keep the patient breathing with an air flow at a positive/negative pressure until the osseous callus is formed to give some rigidity to the fracture.
The inconvenience of using this system is that the patient should remain in intensive therapy for at least two weeks with an endotracheal probe, which is very unconfortable and costly, because sophisticated and complicated control instruments are required, such as the gasometry control in the patient to keep him breathing adequately, besides, highly specialized personnel is required to use such apparatus.
The advantages of this invention with respect to the above mentioned procedures, are that the patient does not have to remain in bed for several weeks, he does not need endotracheal probes for the supply of air flow since the prosthesis is placed in the patient immediately after surgery, and he can walk with the brace on him without any risk.
The brace for thorax fractures includes a rigid member to be set on the back of the thorax (back of the patient) and held in position by belts extending from the upper end of the rigid member to the sides thereof passing under the armpits, and by another adjustable belt extending between the lower side ends of the rigid member at the waistline. The rigid member is provided with curved rib members extending from the upper end of the rigid member to the lower end thereof: the fragments loosened in the thorax are held to the rib members with wires in order that the controlled traction of the fragments is perfectly achieved, avoiding paradoxical breathing and keeping the patient in ambulatory shape.
This type of fractures generally occur in automobile accidents or in sports accidents like American football, where when receiving a strong blow on some part of the thorax a fracture or a sinking of the flexible thorax areas is caused. It is necessary to unite or pull the fragments to the adequate position and keep them like that until the osseous callus is formed to give a certain rigidity to the fracture. For all this, the brace here described is of great help, since the union of the fragments can be kept in position by fixing them with wires to the rib members of the brace so that it is not necessary for the patient to remain in bed for several weeks.
Another advantage of the invention is that the patient uses his own respiratory muscles and can cough to move and throw out the bronchial secretions.